


Fix It

by mae428



Category: Olympics RPF, Swimming RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 12:40:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7977094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mae428/pseuds/mae428
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is just the start of something. Updates to come as regularly and as quickly as possible :)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Fix It

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the start of something. Updates to come as regularly and as quickly as possible :)

It’s 7 am. He’s been up for two hours. Ryan was used to this though. Used to waking up at 5 am, grabbing a Gatorade, and running out the door. He’s used to getting into his speedo and diving into the pool for seemingly endless laps. What he’s not used is putting on too tight dancing shoes that leave him with blisters. What he’s not used to is trying to count 1-2-3 in his head over and over while also remember the steps and reminding himself that he’s the one who has to lead.

Cheryl suggests they take a break at around 7:03 because, honestly, she can’t dance like this. Ryan is a million miles away. And not his usual million miles. It’s something different this time. He’s been weirdly silent all morning. Typically, Ryan is bright and bubbly, even without coffee, blabbering on about something or other. Usually Michael. Not today, though, Ryan isn’t giving his all, and Cheryl absolutely cannot work with Ryan like this.

They sit together on the floor, their backs pressed up against the mirror and coffee cradled in their hands. They’re quiet for a full seven minutes before Cheryl finally speaks.

“Is it about him?” Because fuck Ryan doesn’t fucking stop talking about Michael. Ever. He’s literally all Ryan talks about, and Cheryl thinks it’s sweet. She’d been wanting to ask about the extent of their relationship, but she usually can’t get a word in with how much Ryan talks.

Ryan nods and hangs his head, looking at his now empty coffee cup. “It’s this whole…beard thing…Nicole and…with the baby…I just…different cities. Kinda unfair, like, you know?”

Despite the fact that Ryan never seemed to use full sentences, Cheryl understands him. It had taken some getting used to. But honestly, after only a week and a half, it was pretty easy for Cheryl to pick up on Ryan’s special lingo.

“How long?”

“Since Athens.”

That’s what Cheryl had expected. That long…really? “And he doesn’t–”

“No.”

Yeah, that long. And damn Phelps was the one who wanted to keep it a secret. Cheryl gives Ryan the rest of the day off. Protests and mentions of the Mirror Ball fly from Ryan’s lips, but Cheryl basically pushes him out of the studio. “Just go relax, Lochte,” she insists. “Go…sleep, or swim, or something.”

As soon as Ryan’s out of the studio, Cheryl dial’s Michael’s number. She has it in her phone because Ryan had forgotten his own a few days prior and he desperately needed to send a picture of himself in his sparkly costume to Michael.

“Phelps,” Cheryl says as soon as the other man answers the phone with a groggy hello. She can’t even bring herself to care if he had been sleeping. “You better fucking fix this.”


End file.
